Homemade Puffy Paint

We tried out homemade puffy paint. At home and at school.

It was a hit.



My children made pictures to give their great grandfather for his birthday.

The schoolers thought walking down to the microwave to cook their paintings was weird but great. They were thrilled to show off their creations.

The recipe:
as found on Sandy Toes and Popsicles

ingredients:

1 Tablespoon self-rising floor

1 Tablespoon salt

Food coloring

Enough water to make a paste

directions:

then you mix them all together and whala! you have your paint. use paint brushes or cotton swabs to paint on cardboard. it works best brush paint on thickly. when you are finished microwave your painting for 5-10 seconds, do not microwave for to long. (i may or may not have started a fire) and that's it. homemade puffy paint.

Some notes from our experiences:
* Ours tended to get a little crispy if we did the full 10 seconds. We averaged about 8. Less if the paint was applied thinner.
* Mixed a batch in a bowl and then spooned it into an ice cube tray and the children chose the colors to make. This worked well.
* A few brave souls requested to sample the paste. All agreed it was yucky.

A little bit of chalk

goes a looooong way!

Glue

It all started when I left a bottle of glue on the living room table...

While my husband loves me despite such behavior,

my children love me because of it.

They took it as a sign that something should be glued. by them. right now.

Sure, this might look like any ole puddle of glue with a button stuck in it...but it is not.

"Mom. Look. It's my favorite!"

CB gave her creation a "hair cut" by trimming the feathers. It was later revealed in a dramatic telling that "He is an evil puppy. He knows how to fly." He is also capable of untying his leash, causing mischief (such as peeing on the carpet!), coming back and tying himself back up.

In the cards

The girl has entered into the world of card games.

She quickly moved from Go Fish to Old Maid and then Crazy Eights. She makes her mama proud.

Looking for ways to make card games extra special?

Add a little love
CB: Do you have any "love you's"?
M: Yes! {blew her some kisses}
CB: Sweet! I'm putting down my "love you's" pile!

Add a little silliness
CB: Do you have any...{dramatic pause}...tickles?

Add a little brother
This turns things into more of a contact sport. And gives the sibling the edge of being able to concentrate while her opponent is unsuccessfully trying to fend off a card swiping Booger Butt Destructo.


Add some crackers
You read that right. Go Fish makes brother hungry.

Add a pillow
The girl has a difficult time holding all of the cards and being able to view them easily. So we propped a large pillow from the couch between us so she could have a private area to spread out her cards.


Add a little trash talking
Okay, so this one back fired...

The girl "challenged" {her word, not mine} her Daddy to a game of Crazy Eights.

I reminded her of the man's tendency to trash talk and she planned on just staying calm.

Turns out, he kept his comments to himself.

The girl, not so much...

"Oh, really?! You're still not going to win!"
"Oh, yeah! What do you got? Huh, what. do. you. got?"
"Let's see if you can beat that!"
"Take that, Daddy!"

um, he won

Anyway, what is truly important, is that you enjoy yourself.


even when your Daddy wins. {We are still working on that last little part...}

Forget

"Did you forget what you were doing, Mom?" my husband asks me at the sight of a nearly unloaded dishwasher.

Yes, in fact, I did.

As I was minding my own business, I was forcibly called to action by a thwack to my rear.

My yelp of surprise was followed by mischievous giggling.

It was on.

I took off after my feisty assailant.

I was handed a weapon by his very own father.


Many rounds were exchanged.



The sister tried to save the family from destroying themselves by creating a scarecrow super villain.


M: Ah!! Where are all the bullets?!
BBD: I got some!

Word to the wise, if BBD tells you to "reach for the skies", don't do it. Take cover and arm yourself at the first opportunity.

Furthermore, I totally recommend that you

Rainbows

We made rainbow finger print art.

The children let me borrow their sweet little fingers for mine:


CB's:

"Those dot things, those are kisses. The unicorn friends are sharing apples."

BBD's:


"Mama, it's ART! We are gonna hang it up!"

The girl and I also used her birthday flowers to make rainbow-ish prints.

Mix it up

I came across a lovely spring tree craft idea here.

Things did not go as planned with paint blowing for the trunk {I got a big fat blob} so CB suggested that I "just use a paintbrush for the tree part". So we did.

Genius is in simplicity sometimes.

BUT there was still a need to blow some paint around...so we did that separately.

See how much fun it is?

Watching how the colors marbleize together is intriguing.


CB decided to combine the two projects to make this masterpiece:

There was also mixing of the play dough colors.



Please check out some of these fabulous linky parties. Wonderful ideas and inspiration await! Thank you!